It started out as a favour – Anthony Stewart asking the Kingston Frontenacs to please do him a solid. Invite his little brother to training camp.

The team, eager to appease its star and future captain, went along with the request. It is worth noting that the sibling in question, Chris, had been out of hockey for two years and weighed more than 250 pounds.

No matter. And, certainly, no expectations – especially at the Ontario Hockey League level.

“Chris was an unknown commodity, other than the fact that he was Anthony’s younger brother,” recalled Jim Hulton, coach of the Frontenacs in those days. “That’s all we knew at the time … and that he was playing football. The first impression? This was a big kid, but he certainly wasn’t in hockey shape by any stretch of the imagination.”